Web Design Skill Pack

A modular library of 14 interconnected skills that help an AI agent build better websites consistently. Each skill focuses on design principles, values, and outcomes — not on any particular CSS framework or toolchain. The guidance works equally well with Tailwind, vanilla CSS, CSS modules, Styled Components, or any other approach.

How to Use This Skill Pack

This is an orchestrator skill. Read the relevant sub-skills based on what you're building:

For any new web project, always start with:

1. content-structure — Plan the page sections and information flow
2. layout-and-spacing — Set up the grid, spacing system, and spatial relationships
3. typography — Choose fonts, define the type scale, set line heights
4. color-systems — Build the color palette, define tokens for theming
5. frontend-implementation — Set up design tokens, resets, and base patterns

Then consult based on what you're building:

For marketing sites / landing pages: 6. content-structure already covers site-specific page anatomy (hero, social proof, pricing, etc.) 7. seo — Set up metadata, Open Graph, structured data, sitemaps, and search discoverability

For web apps / dashboards: 6. app-patterns — App shell layouts, sidebar nav, tabs, command palettes, data-heavy components

Always consult as needed: 7. visual-hierarchy — Ensure the right things get attention in the right order 8. responsive-design — Make layouts work across all screen sizes 9. ui-components — Build buttons, cards, navigation, forms, and other shared UI elements 10. interaction-patterns — Design hover states, animations, loading states, and user flows 11. ux-flows — Plan user journeys, conversion paths, onboarding, and trust placement 12. internationalization — Design for multiple languages, RTL scripts, text expansion, and cultural differences 13. accessibility — Ensure WCAG 2.2 AA compliance across the entire interface

Skill Directory

Read each skill's SKILL.md when working on its domain:

Skill	Path	Use When
Layout & Spacing	skills/layout-and-spacing/SKILL.md	Building page structure, grids, setting margins/padding/gaps
Typography	skills/typography/SKILL.md	Choosing fonts, sizing text, setting line heights and letter spacing
Color Systems	skills/color-systems/SKILL.md	Picking colors, building palettes, implementing dark/light mode
Responsive Design	skills/responsive-design/SKILL.md	Making layouts work on mobile, tablet, and desktop
UI Components	skills/ui-components/SKILL.md	Building buttons, cards, nav, forms, modals, hero sections
Accessibility	skills/accessibility/SKILL.md	Ensuring keyboard nav, contrast, ARIA, screen reader support
Visual Hierarchy	skills/visual-hierarchy/SKILL.md	Deciding what to emphasize, scanning patterns, focal points
Interaction Patterns	skills/interaction-patterns/SKILL.md	Designing animations, hover states, loading, error handling
Content Structure	skills/content-structure/SKILL.md	Planning page sections, information architecture, copy
UX Flows	skills/ux-flows/SKILL.md	User journeys, conversion, onboarding, checkout, trust signals
SEO & Discoverability	skills/seo/SKILL.md	Meta tags, Open Graph, structured data, sitemaps, crawling
App Patterns	skills/app-patterns/SKILL.md	App shells, sidebar nav, tabs, command palettes, app-specific components
Internationalization	skills/internationalization/SKILL.md	Multi-language design, RTL, text expansion, cultural considerations
Frontend Implementation	skills/frontend-implementation/SKILL.md	Design tokens, resets, performance, production readiness

Universal Principles

These principles run through every skill in this pack. Keep them in mind at all times:

1. Don't Make Users Think

Every click, scroll, and field should feel effortless. If users pause to figure out your interface, you've already lost them. Simplicity is a skill — it's harder to make something simple than to make something complex.

2. Consistency Beats Perfection

A consistent spacing system with "wrong" values still looks better than random "correct" values. Apply the same tokens, the same patterns, the same conventions everywhere. Consistency builds trust and reduces cognitive load.

3. Hierarchy Is Everything

If everything is emphasized, nothing is. Use size, weight, color, and spacing to create three clear levels of importance: primary (what users see first), secondary (what supports the primary), and tertiary (details for those who want them).

4. Start with More Space, Then Reduce

Generous whitespace is almost always the right move. Cramped designs feel cheap; spacious designs feel premium. Start with too much padding and reduce only if you run out of room.

5. Design is for the User, Not the Designer

Every decision — from font choice to section order — should serve the person using the website. Design for their goals, not for visual novelty or portfolio impressiveness.

6. Accessibility Is Not Optional

Build accessible from the start. Semantic HTML, proper contrast, keyboard navigation, screen reader support. It's easier (and cheaper) to build it right than to retrofit it later.

7. Design for Emotion, Not Just Aesthetics

Before starting any project, write down one core emotion the viewer should feel: calm, urgency, trust, joy, excitement. Then audit every design decision against that emotion. Does the color support it? Does the font reinforce it? Does the animation match? If anything feels neutral or contradictory, rethink it. A beginner says "this looks good" — a pro says "this feels right."

8. Pre-Mortem Before Shipping

Before delivering, ask: "Where could this go wrong?" Will the logo be misread at small sizes? Does the palette work on different backgrounds? Does the type still function on tiny mobile screens? Professionals don't wait for failure — they test for it before launch.

9. Test on Real Devices

What looks great in a browser preview may break on an actual phone. Test at real breakpoints (320px, 768px, 1024px, 1920px), test with a keyboard, test with zoom at 200%.

Quick-Start Design Token Checklist

Before writing any component code, define tokens for these categories (how you store them — CSS custom properties, Tailwind config, theme object — depends on your stack):

1. Fonts: Display font + body font (2 families max)
2. Type scale: 5-7 sizes from 0.75rem to 2.5rem
3. Spacing scale: Base-4 increments from 0.25rem to 6rem
4. Colors: Background, text (3 levels), accent, border, shadow, semantic (success/error/warning)
5. Radii: 3-4 sizes from subtle (4px) to pill (9999px)
6. Transitions: Fast (150ms), base (200ms), slow (300ms)

See skills/frontend-implementation/SKILL.md for the complete token reference tables.

Sources and Influences

This skill pack synthesizes principles from:

• Professional web design video courses on typography, layout, spacing, color, and responsive design
• Anthropic's official frontend-design skill for Claude
• Vercel Labs' web-interface-guidelines
• WCAG 2.2 Level AA accessibility standards
• Baymard Institute UX research
• Gestalt principles of visual perception
• Industry patterns from top-tier websites (Figma, Webflow, Stripe, Apple)